Happy New Year, Everyone! As always, I have a little bit of a backlog from the last year, so I’ll be spending the next couple of weeks posting things I made in 2018. Starting with this!

I think this blanket is a great thing to start the new year with because it speaks to one of my achievements from last year. I learned to crochet left-handed!

I was taught right-handed, so I’ve always crocheted that way, even though it’s not my dominant hand. When a student wanted to learn left-handed, I made the switch to teach her. After a couple of lessons instructing her, I realized that I wasn’t even conscious about how awkward the switch felt anymore. That’s when I decided to make this blanket!

This blanket was made both right-handed and left-handed! When I got to the end of my row, instead of turning my work, I just switched hands and started going the other way, giving it a pretty unique stitch.

It also presents a milestone for me because I know, for once, how long it took to make! People always ask me, but I’m horrible at keeping track. Not this time, though!

The blanket took me 16 hours and 42 minutes to make.

When I started out, I timed myself with both hands to see the difference.

One row with my right hand took 6 minutes to finish.

One row with my left hand took 11 minutes to finish.

I recorded this at the very beginning of the project. I also timed myself when I was almost done to see if I’d improved any, and I had!

One row with my right hand took 4 minutes

And one row with my left hand took 7 minutes.

Yay improvement!

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with everything about this blanket, and I hope the new year can bring me as much success.

Happy Friday, Everyone!